Category Archives: iPhone

I recently got the announcement of the new official Microsoft Office Accreditation through MacTech. I was lucky enough to sit in on the previous version of this, so thought I’d push out the information on it. It’s attached to the MacTech Pro Events that MacTech has been running:

As you know, Microsoft released a public preview of Office 2016 for Mac. MacTech and Microsoft have created a new accreditation for Apple techs called “Microsoft Office for Mac and iOS Accredited Support Professional, 2015.” Prior to the public Office 2016 announcement, we did a preview of this new course under NDA in Seattle earlier this month.

We’re now announcing the new accreditation — which covers not only Office for Mac (2011 and 2016), but also Office for iOS and Office 365. In short, anyone that supports others using Microsoft Offie on OS X or iOS should get attend and get this accreditation.

The latest book, Learning iOS Security is now available on Amazon, Packt, etc. One of my better writing experiences, so thanks to all for making it so! Buy it here, if you’re into iOS Security and all that kind of fun stuff.

Boom. 3 books in about 6 months. The next, and likely last for a few months at least, book is finally ready. Written with Allister Banks, Learning iOS Security is a look into iOS Security for those coming to the Apple platform. It’s meant for business, enterprise, infosec.

The first chapter, as I’ve done in a few previous books, was written as a quick and dirty “oh, this is all you’re gonna’ read, cool” type of thing. In security, 90 percent (or more) of the work is done in the first 10 percent of the time. I have this theory (unproven) that each percent represents a j curve in cost increase and when you hit 99, each .1 continues, then each.01, etc. No one can be truly secure.

Also, as I’ve done in the past, the final chapter looks at a few forensics options and tools. Allister was the best coauthor I’ve had to date. This was his book that I was brought in on. I didn’t have to do any of his work, and he held the chapters to a higher standard than the publisher. Truly, this is his book, I just contributed. Either way, Packt was great again and I hope you enjoy what we’ve done!

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MacTech just announced MacTech Pro: a new series of one day, regional events that are specifically designed for professional Apple techs, consultants, and support staff. MacTech Pro Events are single-track, hotel-based seminars that are specifically geared to serve the needs of professional consultants, IT Pros and techs who support others on OS X and iOS. The first MacTech Pro will take place on March 4th, 2015 in Seattle.

Using MacTech’s proven “running order” approach, MacTech Pro will pack in the maximum amount of sessions possible into the time available combined with the opportunity to talk to sponsors, network with peers and meet new contacts. Event topics in 2015 include:

• Deconstructing iCloud Drive: What a Tech Must Know • Time Machine Deep Dive, and Fitting it Into a Backup Strategy • The Professional Apple Tech’s Toolbox • Using OS Resources to Diagnose Troubles • Caching servers, DNS Tricks, and More • VPP, DEP, and Under 13: How New Apple ID Requirements Impact You and Your Clients • Productivity Tools: Best Practices and Uses of Microsoft Office • Security, Viruses and Malware. It’s real. It’s now. You need to take it seriously. • Managing Your Clients To Increase Productivity and to Optimize Revenue

MacTech Pro Events are economically priced, include the full day of sessions, lunch, breaks and access to sponsor tables. Those who register early can take advantage of the Early Registration and save $200.00 and pay only $299 to register for any of the nine regional MacTech Pro Events in 2015.

To honor the announcement, those that register this week can save an additional $50 savings for any MacTech Pro Event in 2015 — $249 until January 26th. EDU pricing for students, educators and staff is $199.

Additional information on topics, sessions, sessions chairs, speaker and sponsorship opportunities are available at http://pro.mactech.com/

To manage a device from Bushel, it must first be added to your Bushel. The technical whiz-bang name for that process is Enrollment. We currently provide 3 ways to enroll devices into your Bushel. All three are available on the Enrollment page when you’re logged into Bushel.

The first and best way to enroll devices into your Bushel is an Apple program called the Device Enrollment Program, or DEP for short. DEP is a way of tying devices to your Bushel so that they cannot be removed from the device, even if the device is wiped. Other than through DEP, all enrollment into your Bushel is optional on the devices and so devices can be unenrolled at will. DEP requires an actual DEP account with Apple, which you can sign up for at https://deploy.apple.com/qforms/open/register/index/avs.

The second way to enroll devices into your Bushel is via Open Enrollment. When you Configure Open Enrollment you create a link that allows your users to enroll without logging into the portal. Simply open Open Enrollment from the Enrollment page and click Enable. Once enabled, you’ll see the URL to enroll devices.

The third way to enroll devices is manually. Simply log into your Bushel, click on Enrollment and then click on the Enroll button for Enroll This Device. When prompted for “Who will this device belong to?” enter the username (e.g. the user’s name in front of their email address most likely or the username for your email system if it’s something different than that). Also provide the email address itself in the Email Address field and then click Enroll This Device. Now, if you want to enroll the device you’re using, simply complete the screen prompts for the profile installation and you’ll be good to go. Or, you can save the mobileconfig file that’s downloaded and send it to others in order to allow them to install it as well. Simply cancel the installation process (most easily done from a Mac) and distribute the Enroll.mobileconfig file as needed. You can also put a user’s name in front of the file name, so you know which will enroll each user. If you need to enroll 3 or 4 people in other countries or cities, this might be the best option!

OK, so we basically gave 4 ways to enroll. But that’s because we’re trying to make it as easy as possible to enroll devices into your Bushel.

By default, the Fitbit tech stack doesn’t sync with the Health App on an iPhone and iPad. But never fear, as with basically everything else on this planet, there’s an app for that!

From the iOS App Store, search for Sync Solver. Using this app, you can then link your Fitbit account to your Apple Health app.

Once linked, you can use the Sync Now button to do an immediate data sync or you can do an automatic sync at midnight every night. And presto, you then see your Fitbit data in the Health app. Happy waiting for the Apple Watch to come out!

Wow, seems like just yesterday I took down the old static page that was just a bunch of links I used to find stuff and went with a full-on WordPress site and published my first article. Doesn’t seem like I’ve been writing that long. But when I look at the over 2,500 posts on this site and the fact that I hit over 210,000 uniques last month, I guess it must be true. I’m so thankful that people want to read this stuff. And I’m really glad that I’ve been able to help a few people over the years. I hope the next 10 years are even better than the last 10! And thank you for coming back here and there, when you need to.

You can see exactly what Bushel, and other MDM platforms do to your OS X devices using the System Information utility. As with all Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions that interface with OS X, you can use the About this Mac menu item under the Apple menu at the top of the screen to bring up the System Information utility. When you open this tool, you will see a lot of information that can be derived about your devices. Scroll down the list and click on Profiles. Here, you will see all of the Device and User profiles that have been installed on your computer, the payloads within each profile and the keys within each payload.

Inside each profile there are a few pieces of information that define how the profile operates on the computer. Click on one to see the specific details for each Payload. Payloads are a collection of settings that a policy is changing. For example, in the above screenshot, allowSimple is a key inside the com.apple.mobiledevice.passwordpolicy payload. This setting, when set to 1 allows simple passcode to be used on the device. When used in conjunction with the forcePIN key (as seen, in the same payload), you must use a passcode, which can be simple (e.g. 4 numeric characters).

Using these settings, you can change a setting in Bushel and then see the exact keys in each of our deployed payloads that changed when you change each setting. Great for troubleshooting issues!